Month: August 2025 Page 1 of 3

So me and Phil are packed and ready to head off tomorrow after breakfast. Fab hostel and glad I stayed the extra night – a little more expensive but breakfast included / sneaky lunch as well.

I’d definitely reccomend Luxembourg as a city to visit but get your steps up in preparation – the city is built on a rocky outcrop so lots of winding up (and down) roads and paths – you can see the city by choo choo (which I did) or hop-on-hop-off bus but the best way to see it is on foot and I think I walked for miles yesterday. Bring a guide book with you though – although most people speak English there is very little written information and in the only 2 souvenir shops that sold guide books they had them in a variety of languages but not English – they did sell teddies though.

A random selection of the many photos I took yesterday.

Vianden Castle was on my list of places to visit – I hadn’t done my research very well – in my haste to get to Luxembourg City though I had kind of bypassed the castle – the castle is about 55km north of the city – would I have changed my route south if I’d known this – maybe aye – maybe no – but I definitely wasn’t cycling back north to go and see it – I took the train and bus. If you are visiting Luxembourg and plan to visit Vianden check where your nearest train station is – don’t assume it is Luxembourg (2.3km + extra for getting lost) from the hostel I’m staying at – when I could have got the train from Pfaffenthal (only 800m away) – there was a plus side to this though – I got to travel over the viaduct that I’d been taking photos of yesterday which was fab.

Public transport (unless you want to go 1st class) is FREE in Luxembourg – even for tourists!! which is just amazing.

The train was fantastic. The busses good when they came but it seems to be a bit hit or miss whether they will arrive or not but it was definitely worth the effort to get to Vianden and see the castle. When you get to the castle make sure you go in the shop first and continue into the information centre and film – from outside it’s not well advertised which is a shame and I think a lot of folks miss it – there is loads of interesting information and the film, which is in English, is really good – I only found it because I good hear the voice over from the film.

On the return journey I got off at the nearer train station and took the funicular UP to street level and then came back down again to take the lift DOWN to the correct street level – all for research of course but good fun.

Not today but I’ve been lucky enough to see a couple of red squirrels – I thought they looked bigger and darker than our Scottish ones but according to Google they are the same species and no noticeable difference in size or colour.

I’ve been so lucky with the weather so far – it did pour last night but after I got to the hostel and same today but while I was on the bus but all good for me – not so much for my room mate who was away out to enloy the nightlife in the city and had to return to get a dry change of clothes.

Loads of restaurants in the city but I ate at the hostel restaurant – less than €17 for soup; salad, huge plate of spag bol that I couldn’t finish and a glass of wine. Jeanne (who I’d just met) and I both got free pudding as well. Jeanne was a really interesting lady from Portugal and among other things told me about the bats who protect the old books in the libraries !

Right off to bed – back to camping for the next wee while so going to make the most of a comfy bed. Night all.

I saw this sign on the approach to Roche de la Ardenne.

Now I’d already decided I was stopping here for the night as the next campsite was over the otherside of the hill and a good couple of hours cycling away. Although I’d like to see wolves it was not something I’d thought about when I knew my route was taking me through Belgium – and another reason for me not to travel any further that day. As it turns out I was not cycling through Parc a Gibier – Parc a Gibier is a small wildlife park that has 5 or 6 wolves in it so nothing to worry about. However something made me look up wolves in Belgium (after I’d arrived in Luxembourg) and it transpires that there are some wild wolves – not many but thought to be 15 to 20 wolves in 2 packs – I didn’t see any!

I set off this morning (27th August) with the hope of crossing from Belgium into Luxembourg and making it to Luxembourg City – 71 miles away but a couple of big hills on route – I’ve loved my time in Belgium and definitely want to come back but it has been brutal at times pushing Phil up some of the hills – nothing big but hard work all the same. I wasn’t keen to book accomodation in case I didn’t make it. I left the campsite at 7.30 – a little chilly but the forecasted rain had not appeared so all good.

Cycling through mixed native woodland in the Des Deux Ourthes Natural Park opening out into minature alpine-like pastures and the sun comes out with. Cows in the fields and I pass a goat farm.

Super quiet roads again and although there’s a lot of uphill it’s a nice easy gradient (so far). Time wise I’m doing well and mid afternoon I book a room for 2 nights in the Luxembourg City Youth Hostel. I’m not sure exactly when I passed from Belgium into Luxembourg – the disadvantage of quite roads and cycle tracks is there no signs welcoming you to a new country.

I do start to notice the “L” on number plates though and when I do have to join a road with traffic the cars seem to be bigger and flashier than in Belgium and some of them are being driven like the boy racers back home. Mostly though it is still a good network of quiet paths and roads.

For most of today I’ve not needed to check the map – the signs have been enough to follow but about 10k from the city centre I plug the hostel address into Komoot (kind of the cycling equivalent of Google Maps) – this mostly works until I’m nearly at the hostel and I end up doing a bit of tooing and froing and then minus panniers I carry Phil down a flight of stairs and then run back up to get the panniers. At last Komoot says “I have arrived” – I haven’t!!! Fantastic day on the bike and only had to push Phil up one steep section but I’ve been on the road for nearly 12 hours and I’m grubby and tired and just want to get to the hostel – I enter the hostel details into Google Maps this and get to the right place 2nd time round – but in the process of checking details realise that I’ve arsed big style – I’m not booked in until the following night! I decided playing dumb was the best approach – luckily all got sorted and I got a bed for the night and Luxembourg City looks amazing so I’m going to stay 3 nights and have 2 days having a wander round while Phil is safely locked up in the basement bicycle garage.

Between leaving Brussels and arriving in Luxembourg City –

I’ve nearly knocked over a workman (his fault and not mine as he walked out from behind a park van).

I’ve been rescued by 3 cycling angels when the very good cycle bath disappeared amongst roadworks and the bicycle diversion signs seemed to be pointed in the direction of oncoming busy – this was indeed the way to go on a strip of new tarmac with the cars passing on either side but I was very pleased to be playing follow the leader with these 3 ladies.

I’ve stayed at 2 more campsites – one just outside the town of Dinant on the banks of River Meuse and I got to see the geese flying low overhead as the sun went down and I saw another kingfisher. The other campsite was at the Camping Le Vieux Moulin – just outside the town of La Roche en Ardenne. Both these towns I’d like to come back and visit for longer and a number of others I’ve passed through. A common theme with Belguim campsite toilets don’t supply toilet paper!! The 2nd of these campsites was lovely and quiet – the first one not so and I was woken by the church bell chiming during the night, trains running on the lines on the opposite side of the river and cockerels crowing on the opposite bank of the river – who new that the noise of cock-a-doodle-doo could carry so far?? – it’s still a good campsite and if you are in a tent bring earplugs.

I’ve had amazing weather – the forecasted rain never came to much and I only got little bit wet.

I came through the 690m long Tunnel de Hobschied a few km north of Luxembourg City – and old railway tunnel – on the approach there was a misty will-o-the-wisp affect and it became bitterly cold – I was glad the tunnel was (dimly) lit and I didn’t need to search for my lights. It’s an amazing structure but I was glad to be back in the sunshine at the other side.

So finally at hostel and me and Phil still seem to be in one piece – I’m scrubbed up but Phil is very dusty, especially from the canal tow paths – Phil however is staying that way as I reckon there is less chance of someone nicking him.

There is nothing not to like about cycling in Belgium – certainly not on my route so far – the good weather helped too – but if you enjoy cycling, wether its pootling about on an electric bike or hammering up the cobbles on a racer, there is someting for everyone.

Tiny little pretty villages with largely red bricked and red tiled houses linked together with nice quiet roads. Belgium is definitely more lumpy than the area of France I’ve just been in, and the roads more twisty and turny too but this makes it more interesting and there was only the top of one steep uphill that I didn’t successfully cycle to the top of.

I did one section of super straight, super flat, super smooth new tarmac – it was fantastic but would be incredibly boring if it was all like that.

In France and Belgium I’ve enjoyed seeing the murals –

In Belgium I’ve seen a couple of interesting woven structures at picnic areas –

Lille in France has to be the nicest city I have ever cycled in or out of – good network of cycle paths or lanes took me almost to my destination and the route took me through the lovely Parc de Citadel.

I can’t remember if I was in France or Belgium but I was grumped at by one old lycra clad cyclist – it was still early in the day; I’d stopped at the edge of the tow path to check my route; plenty of room on the path on my left hand side for anyone to get past me; grumpy cyclist, going in same direction as me takes it upon himself to cycle past me on my right hand side on the thin strip of grass between me and the canal and grumbles something at me on the way past – I’ve no idea how he didn’t land in the canal and kind of wish he had.

Road signs and a duck road block –

I’ve not met a lot of other tourers so far – Luke the retired Italian teacher from Belgium who was returning home after a fortnights touring in England on his electric bike – we parted company when he had to find a more direct route to Lille to find a cafe so he could get his bike charged up – he was impressed that I didn’t have an electric bike and based on struggling to gets things charged up at times I’m glad I didn’t have an electric bike – having to charge up a bike as well sounds like just an extra thing I don’t want to do – he did have lots of interesting stories about treking some of the Via Francigena with a donkey and also having to track down a donkey who escaped during the night because he didn’t like hills and headed back the way he had come.

I stopped and blethered to another lady cycled tourist who was just doing a “short” tour from her home in the Netherlands. We met again at the same campsite that evening and I’m glad she told me which of the 2 showers gave hot water and which one didn’t!

The campsite was a lovely basic one on a farm and cost me only £11.60 for the night, including a wee bottle of wine from the farm shop.

A wee bit chiller the next morning and I’ve got my jacket on – still wearing my sandals though and got ridiculous suntan marks to prove it.

Came to a slightly bigger town in Belgium, Geraardsbergen, with a good pull up to the town square but we make it – the next up from the square and out of the town is where I fail to get to the top – being over taken by serious racers and old buddies on electric bikes while I’m pushing Phil up the last wee bit – I def need to work on my hill fitness.

Later on I manage to cycle a longish uphill cobbled section – fairly flat cobbles I would have to admit but cobbles all the same – I do it in 3 stages – before doing the last section I wait for 3 proper cyclists to go past – 2 keep going and sail past – the shorter stalkier one is finding it harder work and stops just in front of me – I wait for him to head off again – I’m crap at hill starts and even worse with a loaded bike and an audience – I finally set off puffing and panting like nothing on earth but determined to get to the top without stopping again and miraculously manage to overtake the other cyclist – to say I was a happy bunny was an understatement – we all chatted for a bit and it turned out that they were over from England ticking off as much of the Tour of Flanders as they could.

There was another dog leg on the EV5 route into Brussels which I chose to ignore and followed the more direct green cycle signs that knocked off about 10 miles.

Spent the last day and a half sightseeing in Brussels – walked everywhere and that’s been harder work than the cycling and I’ve now got achy right calf. I could have used the trams to get to The Atomium but then I wouldn’t have seen the big Sunday Market and the ducks and the fabby lighthouse mural various other things on my way.

Wee visit it to Dover Castle (and the Roman Lighthouse) and South Foreland Lighthouse the day before I got ferry to Calais.

Arrived in Calais and made wee detour to Lighthouse – unfortunately couldn’t go in as it was closed for lunch.

Already much easier cycling and route marked so relaxed and enjoyed the scenery UNTIL an older French cyclist stopped and thought it was ok to flash his tackle at me!

Saw black fluffy baby moorhens and other birds – much nicer viewing.

Took a while and a bit of a detour before I got to a campsite that takes tents – 4th time lucky but got a nice wee spot.

I’m following the Eurovelo 5 Via Francigena (EV5 VF) which will hopefully take me to Italy – at the moment it is a completely different route from the traditional walking plilgramage route but at the Swiss / Italian border the walking and cycling routes will overlap at times and run much more closely together. The EV5 is an ongoing project with gaps where you have to plan the route yourself to join the sections up – the day before yesterday was a lot of make it up as I went along but the last section was nice and came right past a campsite so decided to have a nice early finish.

According to EV5 online map for yesterday I was to head south and then take a dog leg back north to Lille – according to the sign posts I can cut a chunk out and keep going straight along the canal – I took the easier quicker option.

Lots of bird life and got lucky when a kingfisher briefly perched on the fence post next to wear I was sitting. Found a hostel in Lille for the night and abandoned Phil while I went for a wander around the city and treated myself to a fabby huge icecream.

Some of the hostel dormitory doors.

Packed and heading off in the direction of Belgium – unlikely but aiming for Brussels tonight.